AIBU to think that the Met Police have "Saved" Boris Johnson?

[SueGray54321]

Just at the very moment when the Sue Gray report on Partygate was about to be released, the police suddenly decided to investigate partying at Downing Street themselves. This was after months of saying they don't investigate historic breaches of lockdown rules. Can't help thinking that they were persuaded to do this to stop the Sue Gray report being released.

The Met then proceed to spend months investigating Partygate offences, thus taking the heat out of the original fury about revelations about lockdown breaches. No doubt this was entirely their intention.

The sum total of the police investigation was one £50 fine for the Prime Minister, for one of the more minor breaches of lockdown rules. Begs the question why he was not fined for any of the other events he attended?

It just smacks of a stitch up, doesn't it?

Slightly better than the Mail which is 'Look over there! A squirrel!'

Johnson is going to ride this one out l think. The only way he is going to go is if he gets voted out in a GE. It is sickening.

TBH i'd prefer him to suffer the humiliation of being voted out by the electorate, rather than him resigning "To spend more time with my family/Long covid etc etc"

However, i'm not convinced UK voters will do this, to many are wedded to the Tories.

Latest polling suggests that the voters of Uxbridge might not even vote for him as their MP in sufficient numbers at the next election.

The thing they don't seem to understand is that it's not really about the parties.
It's about the lying, the corruption, the greed, the lethargy from their mps, the indecisiveness, the -theft use of tax payers money to make themselves/their families and friends richer, the lack of good governance.
The parties are just a symptom of this, but its a symptom with tangible evidence.

The difference between their behaviour and labour is that the labour leadership at least tried to do the right thing, the same with Nicola Sturgeon (and I'm no fan).
The behaviour and language after the mistakes have been genuine and trying to do the right thing.

I think the Tories with Johnson as leader, will win the next election.
I think the queen will die just before the next election and in times of national crisis/uncertainty the electorate always rally around its government. I think Johnson and his team are aware of this as well and are hoping for fortunate timing.
Its beyond depressing.
I bet Johnson was cracking open the champagne when Putin invaded Ukraine as well.

Yep, took the spotlight off him again

This!

This!

Yougov's latest polling suggests a further drop in support for the Tories.

yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2022/05/20/voting-intention-con-31-lab-39-18-19-may

We must be getting close to the most likely outcome of the next GE being an outright Labour majority.

Mid term? these are not the greatest figures for Labour.

I agree with @Kendodd the Queen dying will ensure a landslide for BJ.

On Lammy? yes a ridiculous comment and one that has attracted great attention from the media, which highlights Labours problem, when Raab made similar very stupid comments, it hardly got a mention.

Same with Abbott, she got crucified for her maths, Hammond who as chancellor or Patel who both made similar cock ups, get a free pass.

Labour last won a GE when the Murdock press turned on the Tories, unless they do so again, i doubt Lab will win outright next time round.

I don’t think we can say if Johnson will be elected again in 2 years time, it’s just too far off and too much could happen in that time. But if he is elected, he almost certainly won’t get this kind of majority.

Still an awful lot of shit to hit the fan wrt Brexit.

I really want to see a coalition govt of Lab, Lib and green as I think it’s the surest way of getting rid of this shower of wankers. I’m not sure Labour can pull a majority in their current incarnation.

"Labour last won a GE when the Murdock press turned on the Tories, unless they do so again, i doubt Lab will win outright next time round."

Very few expect Labour to win outright. But sourthern marginals will bleed to the Lib Dems and Labour will make incremental gains in the midlands and north. It's not about winning a landslide, it's about the numbers being enough for a coalition. Boring, but sufficient.

I don't envy tory strategists. There's nothing left in the arsenal. They've already shot their was with Johnson making the (egregous) Starmer - Savile connection, beergate barely dented polling, and no-one believes the shadow cabinet are still Corbynite. Apparently a few tory mps have even said it might be better in th long run if they have a term out of office.

@SleeplessInEngland Just hope you are right.
Anecdotally, the Brexitiers and Tories i know (Sheryll Murray got in on a 22k majority down here) have not changed their minds, despite being unhappy with BJ.
They still see Lab as tax n spend! which is ridiculous.

Cameron got hammered in the council elections in 2012 (DC lost 402 seats) & behind the polls but won in 2015.... different times and sure, BJ's Govt is more Major's in terms of sleaze and incompetence but i just do not see the Tory press not doing what they always do and rubbishing Labour leading up to any GE and the english electorate are more than capable of swallowing it all and voting Con, against their best interests.

Starmer appears to be relying on semantics regarding his little soiree whilst calling for resignations. I couldn't personally give two shits what politicians got up to within their own little teams. Neither were holding Castlemorton Common style raves.

All Labour offer is...I don't actually know. That's the problem. I don't hear them saying anything which will either attract new voters or encourage their former voters back into the fold.

They've been awful in opposition (shouting resign does not an opposition make) and alienated a large swathe of local voters over Brexit.

Labour need policies and God forbid, someone at the top who isn't from a nice grammar school background who can offer a genuine alternative.

@FreddyVoorhees One of the UKs major political parties has spent the past 6 months or so putting forward proposals to help alleviate the worst effects of the Cost of Greed crisis that we are living through. The other major UK political party has consistently voted against helping the poorest people and has instead put up taxes on them.

I will leave you to wonder which is which.

Do you mean the windfall tax? A headline gathering measure which will raise a maximum of what? £2 billion? Sounds a big number granted but the current year benefit budget is £212 billion. It's a soundbite. I can't find any proposals as to how these monies would be distributed. That's the problem.

Maybe if Labour had spent more time announcing their policies I'd be better informed.

That is indeed one of a series of policies that the Labour party have proposed to help alleviate the Cost of Greed crisis. Just because you have not heard of the policies does not mean that they don't exist. It either reflects on you and your lack of knowledge or perhaps also on the way the mainly right wing controlled media works in the UK.

Whereas Boris' suggestion was that the elderly should spend all day on the buses to stay warm and that is why he made sure they had free bus passes.

It has been plain for some time now that the Tory party has only one policy, namely to Save Big Dog. You may think this is a very important policy and worth voting for.

Maybe if Labour had spent more time announcing their policies I'd be better informed.

Oh, I think I misunderstood you the first time.

You think the Labour party should do what the Tory party does and announce the same "new" policy over and over again, because they think the electorate is to stupid to notice.

For example how many times has Boris announced that he is going to build 40 new hospitals.

Of course these are not new, hospitals or going to be built, but that is not really the point.

Just announce the same policy over and over and the voters are happy.

@FreddyVoorhees £400 to those on benefits/working benefits.
£200 for all families - not repayable, the repayable part of the Tories help to us all, is a bit of joke really.... a bad one.

We don't know the exact figure any windfall tax would raise, high fuel costs & profits may be here for several more years, once Russian write downs have gone through the books, these profits will be even higher.

Its a not a soundbite tax at all.

Just listened to a guy on Sky (in Tiverton) moaning on about homelessness and cost of living being far more important than who had a wine and that Starmer had a Curry party ffs!
He always votes Tory, always will... my question to him would be "who has been in power whilst we have had this rise in homelessness?"
He then went on about "all parties are the same and non of them really care"

this is why its not a shoe in for Labour.

If the Met Police went too far in the eyes of the Conservative Party, their funding would be cut.

It is a soundbite. The sums raised are inconsequential on a national level and there are risks in the longer term from these companies relocating a less onerous tax regime noting that they already pay elevated rates of corporation tax. As you've said, we do not know the figures that would be raised, but we do know what is raised currently. The reward is low but the risk is high from a policy standpoint.

As for homelessness, how would Labour solve this? I don't think that the problem can be solved simply by pledging to build 150,000 houses a year due to population growth.

I would also argue that there is a very real risk that if Labour increased BTL taxes (as they've dropped hints about) the supply of rental properties would decrease without a matching increase in the supply provided by the social housing sector. (but that is a brand new thread in itself).

As for the "always votes Tory, always will" the last GE showed that people who always voted one way can and will change. So the next GE is more than winnable as long as a party can promise something they can actually deliver.

Oh for a party that took the middle point between the Tories and Labour...

A middle point between centrist and UKIP? That would be a sort of traditional Conservative Party then... 🙄

Oh for a party that took the middle point between the Tories and Labour...

That won't come about until FPTP ends and some reform of the voting system. What we have now leaves us with the extremes of the party being able to get huge majorities off the back of 30-40% of the vote.

Best hope is a Labour coalition where they are forced to commit to constitutional reform and a new system of democracy that incorporates PR.

Kier Starmer does seem to be open to it if the rumours of electoral pacts are true. Perhaps the fact he hasn't been in politics his whole life and has had a real job so might not be as tribally entrenched as some other politicians is why.

I still don't hold out of it happening in my lifetime but we'll see.

Well yes, we can all dream of a political party that would accept Kenneth Clarke as a member, but certainly his home is not in the Tory party.